


Just The Same

by AshEff



Category: Black Widow - Fandom, Bucky - Fandom, Captain America, Hulk - Fandom, Marvel, Stark - Fandom, Thor - Fandom, Tony Stark - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark's Daughter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2018-10-24 21:57:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10750605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshEff/pseuds/AshEff
Summary: Alleleena has been told that her father is the one and only Tony Stark. and just like any other insane girls her age, she began her search for him only to get herself tangled in the world of superheroes and supervillains.





	1. Just The Start

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first official fanfic and the first story I've written in so long. It might be a bit rusty at first but I assure you it will get better and longer. 
> 
> Here's the first chapter!

Alleleena scrambled around the ground as she searched for her glasses. "Tessa! Have you seen it?!" She shouted, frustrated. "No Leena, also, I've told you the same thing for your past 20 same question," replied a computerised voice. 

Alleleena groaned and rolled her eyes. "Don't get all smart with me now Tessa," she said. She reached out her arms under the mattress once more. It was the fifth time she searched under there. Her fingers touched something smooth and patted it before taking it out. 

"Just a piece of scrap metal from the last project you haven't named, Leena," the robot said before Alleleena brought the thing the took before her classless eyes. "Ugh." She tossed the metal away and sat down shrilly at her bed. "God I give up. Tessa, give this room a full scan. I need that glasses. The competition is at 9 o'clock this morning," she said now searching for her cloak instead.

"Scanning... your glasses are in your pocket, Leena." 

"Wha--," she patted down her pants and found her glasses half squished in her back pocket. How she didn't realise it was there after about one hour of standing, sitting and crawling under wires as she searched was beyond herself. "Right," she said, "thanks Tess."

"Alright, I think I'm ready," Alleleena said, draping her cloak over her shoulders. "Your socks are in your cloak pocket and your shoes are still wet from yesterday's errand. I think you are not ready," the computer said. "And why didn't you warm my shoes so it isn't wet for today's errand, Tessa?" 

"You told me not to. You said, on your birthday--" the computer's voice quieted and a recording was played. It was no other than Alleleena's voice from two days ago that the computer so cheekily recorded without her knowing.

"These days I need to be more responsible. I mean I'm a 14-year-old girl living by myself with only wires and metals as companion. But like. I ask you guys, my finest creation, about everything you know. So, Tess, next time I ask you to do something I should have done myself, don't do it, Kay?" A hiccup and a laugh followed.

"HEI! I was drunk that night--" 

"You are a 14-year-old. You should not get drunk."

"Oh my god. Just shut up or I'll turn you off." Alleleena said, putting on her socks and trying to put in her feet in her wet shoes. "Right. Now you've made me late. Gotta go. Turn on the security and don't let anyone in except me. Oh! Also, don't forget to charge the Nutcracker. I want to do some tests when I get back."

"Right away, Leena. Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it."


	2. Just Her Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leena has a competition to attend to and time seemed to be against her. This chapter includes flashbacks and timeline mix.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finished this chapter at last! And as I promised you, it is better (I hope) and absolutely longer. 
> 
> Also! Thanks special thanks to my Beta reader who gives me the best advice: Liva/Shirley. Enjoy!!

2

"What do you mean I can't get in? This is my ticket right here! It even has my name on it!"

Alleleena couldn't believe her lack of luck. She was standing on her wet and cold shoes with her right arm wounded and most probably infected and after all she's been through this morning, she couldn't get inside the stupid building just because she looked like a wreck. 

Alright, maybe she did look like a deranged homeless kid with her wandering eyes and her dirty appearance. But to her defence, that was only because her robot assistant refused to help her find her glasses and warm her shoes thus letting her walking slower out of discomfort and late in catching the bus from the nearest station.

Stupidly, instead of waiting for the next bus, she insisted in running to the next bus station about ten blocks away. But she forgot that she was living in the bad side of town. 

Big, dirty men were everywhere catcalling her. She'd felt so uncomfortable she ran faster than her feet could withstand in her wet shoes and ended up falling down on the pavement. After all these time living in that garage, she's always been counting on the bus station located right next to it to get her moving.

"Are you okay, girlie?" Said a man, his hands wondering up her back, grabbing her cloak. Alleleena had fought to get her cloak to stick to her back and forced herself to run again. She realised her right arm, which was scrapped was bleeding and burning. 

She then managed to catch a bus at the station, the bus driver looking at her judgementally before she slammed a five dollar bill on his hand and sat down. 

An old woman sitting next to her scooted away as if she had an infectious disease. She probably stank. It wasn't uncommon that she forgot to change her clothes (especially as she didn't have a lot). The fact that Tessa cannot identify smell was also not helping.

'Oh well,' she thought, cradling her right arm and painfully trying to get rid of the dirt and rock stuck to the bleeding wound. 

And all this she did just to meet Tony Stark, her possible biological father. 

It sounded so stupid Alleleena tried to dismiss the thought of it every single time it came to her mind. She tried reasoning with herself how her mother told her about it when she was drunk and on heavy drugs. But her mother had rarely even talked to her so a full sentence about Tony Stark being her father was forever impelled in her mind. 

She'd not been a fool to just believe to such imaginary things without proof. She'd tried whatever test she could to see a match or pattern of her and Tony Stark. She'd tried to match her face to his in a face recognition test she conducted with the help of Tessa and was surprised that the test revealed that both of them were of the same family or such. She even took that Buzzfeed test she knew was far from accuracy. 

The only other thing she needed to test was her and his DNA. The final test.

But she couldn't just walk to his building and demanded him to take a DNA test with her. (Or rather she tried and got kicked out not so graciously.) So after discussing and researching for a way to get to his building, they came across a Stark sponsored annual competition which is to compete in making the most high tech thing that can be the most functional and effective. It wasn't what really was written in the add, of course. But it sounded something like that and Leena knew she was qualified.

She went through lengths just to get a ticket for the competition. She needed at least 1000 dollars to get in. And for it, she needed to sell her creations. 

The problem whenever she sold her creations, however, was that she never could sell it officially as people would no doubt question her and answering their question would lead to her risking her face to the police. Which would end up with her getting shown to public eyes because of all the brilliant machinery the made or dragging her back to her lunatic mother or put her in a shelter and force her to go to school. Any way it would end, it didn't sound very appealing to her.

So she needed to sell them in the black market. To people who weren't particularly the nicest. But at least they do not question her. She sometimes ponder on whether it was their professional attitude of marketing as to not ask why or just because she sold all the fully functioning juice mixers and air conditioners for such a low prices. Either way, neither her nor the buyers mind any bit of the transaction. 

And she managed, after almost a year creating and selling, getting her 1000 dollars. But now she probably screwed things up as she was late and dirty and a mess. 

"The competition started two hours ago anyway. If you go in, you would only have two hours to do everything," the girl in the counter said, her eyes rolling. If they were in a different condition and Alleleena didn't need to get in the competition so badly, she was sure to punch her face.

"I could manage it!" Alleleena answered and half shouted. "Look lady, I bought this ticket with my own money and it isn't easy to get it. So please just let me in!" 

Alleleena spread her hands on the counter in desperation and the girl in front of her jerked away from disgust. 

"I'd hate to crush your dreams, sweetheart but this isn't a competition for little girls like you. Look around and see where you are at. These people competing are the usually the best of the best. And what are you going to make anyway?" The girl said, partly hissing at Leena. 

It wasn't Alleleena's first time being underestimated and the girl's words seemed so familiar in her ears. But she never could shake off the anger and redness of her face every single time. 

"You don't really care about it then, right? Just let me in and I'll be gone in two hours. Since you've been so bugged about the cameras seeing a filth in this five star place. I just need a chance to do my stuff then get it judged!" Alleleena said after vainly trying to calm herself.

The girl looked at Leena from head to toe as if to see whether she was worth the trouble of talking to and insisted that she wasn't so she picked up the phone and talked to the line.

"Cory will show you your work station. You will have one hour and fifty minutes to work. Good luck," she girl said regally, giving Leena what looked like one painfully sarcastic smile. 

"Thanks," Leena said, spotting the man in suit with a name tag reading Cory, "I'll need it."

\---

"All the tools you need are in this drawer and the power socket is right down here. I'll be of help if you need it. But strictly when you tell me what to do. I am not to stray from your orders, be creative, or identify metals and how your machinery works in anyway," Cory said, reciting the lines he seemed to memorised so well. Leena could have sworn he was a robot since even when he saw her, he didn't give away anything.

If he felt disgusted or smelt anything bad on her he didn't show it. 

"Right," Leena said, rubbing her hands together. She saw the giant clock on the wall and the other contestants already starting to test and retest heir creations. 

Beads of sweat appeared on Leena's forehead. "I can do this," she mumbled. She took a careful scan over her desk and tools and started by putting down the sketch book, pencil and eraser on the floor . 

In the back of her head, she reviewed her plan once more. She was relieved a little as she remembered her actual plan on this project would be to finish it in two hours as she thought how cool it would be to see a little girl making such a masterpiece with half the time provided. 

"Cory, please help me lift this metal and the one underneath it to the desk," she said pointing at the aluminium and steel pieces which were approximately 20 by 20 inches. She took the gloves, goggles and the metal fire torch and took off her cloak. 

She put the safety on and started working. Once in a while asking Cory to take more metal pieces or metal pipes, she looked at the clock and her competitors. 

.

The clock really seemed to hate her. Time went faster than she wanted it to and her hands were getting sloppier both from the work she did (as usually she asked Tessa to do most of the hard work) and from the sweat. 

The long pipe she was holding slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground with a 'clank' and Cory went forward to help her get it. "Thanks," she said, her voice quivering now. Suddenly she heard a thundering ring of the clock. The pipe she held fell again. The feeling of despair invaded her and tears were on the verge of falling out of her eyes. She thought she could do it. She gulped and closed her eyes.

She wanted this so bad. She wanted the prize so bad that it hurt her. She wanted to meet 'the' Tony Stark and know whether she really was his daughter. And although her whole life she'd said she didn't really care, it dawned on her now how much she longed for it. 

A traitor tear fell on her cheeks and she cupped her face with her greasy hands. 

She failed.

Another tear followed.

"Miss, are you going to finish it or not?" someone said. 

She opened her eyes to see Cory holding the pipe in front of her with a half worried smile. 

Leena widened her eyes. Was she given another chance? Then she saw the clock. 

10 minutes remaining.

She quickly clenched her fists in determination. She was going to finish this. She worked hard for this. She WANTED this. "I can do this," she reassured herself. 

With renewed energy, she took the pipe from Cory and mumbled a thank you and went back to work. 

"That, um where is it?" She said, frustrated, trying to locate the screwdriver. "This miss?" Cory said holding it. Alleleena furrowed her brows. This was against the rules. She saw a smile on Cory's face. "You go on working, miss. I will help you with the tools," he said discreetly. She smiled back and went back working, her hands furiously working on her creation.

Cory handed her the things she needed afterwards without her telling. He seemed to understand the working of her machine and what to put where. And Cory's help was a big boost.

"Just another two minutes miss. Is it time to test it?" Cory asked. Alleleena joined in two parts of her machine with a click. "There won't be any time for that, I'm afraid. Let's just hope this works on the presentation," she said, taking another part of her machine and joined it with the other two. 

She heard Cory breathed out. "It-- it is a beauty, miss. What does it do?" Cory asked, his voice laced with admiration. She smiled. It was great to hear her complimented by a real person. The one complimenting her her whole life had been Tessa or herself. 

But she understood Cory's sudden admiration that he didn't show through the process of making the machine. 

She'd worked in parts. Each one with such intricate details and unnamed shapes that made it look useless and abstract. But stick them altogether, and you may see an actual shape of a thing. 

"Cory, do we happen to have a permanent marker?" She asked. It was too late now to paint it. But she wanted to name it, and that she would do.

Cory handed her the marker and she quickly scribbled on the shiny surface of her machine: 

"THE SPARE PART".

The bell rang then. Signalling the end of the competition. 

"It is quite complicated," Cory said. Alleleena smiled and nodded.

She did it.

She finished.

Now the judges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go find out about her creation in the next chap!


	3. Just It's Beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the competition, there is only one thing to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for not updating this story for so long. I've just started school break and am now writing again so you will hear from me soon! Anyway, writing and posting in this platform can be a little bit of a struggle so be ready to see this story in other platforms such as fanfic.net and wattpad!

Alleleena couldn’t help herself. She’s been smiling and non-stop talking all day long and has left her computer friend in some computerised way, very, very annoyed.

“I wish I could make you mobile to see the judges’ faces, Tess!” Leena shrieked and threw herself on her creaking bed that might just gave up on her if she was a pound heavier. “I get it they were very pleased with The Spare Part?” Tessa replied. Leena jolted upright and screwed her face in disbelief. “I do not know that I’ve made you sound dense, Tess! I’ve been ranting on how the judges were on the verge of salivating themselves after the presentation of my machine and that is your question?”

“I am sorry to have offended you. I just do not believe that you should get anymore compliments as you have obviously been drowning on them already, which you have pointed out for the past hour,” the computer said, the big TV screen showing that Tessa had deliberately upped the volume.

Leena rolled her eyes and jabbed her finger on the flat screen as if to show a sudden surge of anger from within her to the computer although she knew that the TV was not the actual form of the computerised voice. “Oh I know now! You are jealous!” Leena shouted back.

The computer made a strange sound that greatly resembles a snort. “Jealous? You said machines aren’t able to feel emotions,” Tessa said, her voice rising still. Leena furiously clicked the (—) button on the TV to lessen the volume. “I knew it was a bad idea to make you based on Karen,” Leena said. Tessa, seemingly to have more control on the volume of the TV half shouted, “Well I am also sorry for you to model me after a talking computer wife of a talking plankton!”

“Why in the world would you be jealous anyway?” Leena wondered out loud. “Maybe because I also had a very significant part in your success,” the computer said nonchalantly. Leena rolled her eyes. “Of course, I know that,” she said. “Then, what should you say to me?” the computer asked, it’s tone almost humanly hopeful. Leena furrowed her eyebrows. “I’m clueless,” Leena said honestly, putting her hands above her head in a sign of defeat.

“Perhaps you should teach yourself in mannerism and politeness,” the computer said abruptly. The TV then started flashing images and videos of random movie scenes with the characters saying ‘thanks’ and ‘thank you’s. Leena rolled her eyes. “Thanks,” she said.

-.-

“Oh yeah? Ok well put it in my schedule, Pepper.” The man said, his right hand flicking back in habit. “Do you mean put it in my schedule? Tony, this charity event is mine now,” the woman beside him said, annoyed. “Yeah, yeah,” the man said carelessly.

A series of furious door knocking followed. The man swung his head to the direction of the door. “Who is it?” he asked. “Kemal, sir, from the competition.”

The man scrutinized and looked at the woman beside him questioningly. “The judge from your annual competition,” she answered, her voice not even annoyed as if forgetting about things have been another habit of the man. “Oh right, come in,” he said, raising his voice for the man behind the door to hear. The door opened to reveal a man in his mid-thirties, wearing a neatly tucked white shirt with hair so disheveled it didn’t match with his overall appearance. A smile etched to his face as he said, “We have chosen the best of the best sir.” Kemal spread the information he had on his tablet to the main screen of the room with a single movement of his fingers. “Three of the best,” Kemal said pointing at three different machines displayed on the screen.

“I’ll go through it,” the man in the middle of the room said, his eyes fixed to the machinery in front of him. “Right sir,” he heard Kemal said, the door closing after him.

The woman stood next to him, her arms crossed. “You never seem so interested. Why do you still get this competition going?” she asked. The man, his eyes never leaving the things portrayed on the screen said, “You heard of author’s block? When the author just couldn’t write—“ (he looked at her) “—It’s complicated. Well… let’s just say sometimes I get Inventor’s block and looking at other people’s inventions, no matter how puny can somehow inspire me.”

The woman couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. The man was talking so honestly and dejectedly and she found it very amusing. “Alright then I’ll leave you to be inspired,” she said, her shoulders shaking slightly from laughter.

“Whatever,” he mumbled. He looked at the three machines. One machine, because of its lack of decoration, stood out. The tapped at the screen and zoomed at the machine. “The spare part,” he said to himself, reading the label which, to his amusement, seemed to be written with a sharpie, unlike the other two machines which had their names engraved to them by a burning process.

He used both of his hands to open the machine virtually to show its layers. A gasp escaped him. Endless layers of little trinkets that didn’t seem to fit together spread across the room virtually. He searched on his screen for the file of this machine and started reading.

He couldn’t believe it. He looked at the layers upon layers in front of him and see how it would fit together. But after a while he realized it was impossible. “How?” he asked himself. It was as if the layers in front of him were the piece of various puzzles mixed together. Not only one. Yet the creator had managed to put it together to make a machine that, not only worked, but impressed the judges.

He’d never seen anything like it. And while he knew he was impressed, he couldn’t help feeling slightly jealous of such beauty that the creator created. This machine, wasn’t only magnificent. It was artistic. He flicked his hand to the other two machines he didn’t even bat an eye to and trashed them.

He picked the machine he picked and sent an email to the judges of the competition saying he’d made up his mind about the winner and told them to call for the creator to meet him soon. He wanted to know how he did it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's short please don't kill me. I couldn't help it! I really just want to get the both of them together, meet, and see what happens! I guess we all just gotta wait.


	4. Just Her Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She has been chosen and is going to go on wild and tense filled trip!

Tessa reinstalled Words Shuffle, a game Leena had deemed boring and challenge-less, on the main flat TV screen. 

Leena wanted to try game programming since she saw how profitable it was. So she downloaded the first game recommended on the game store and played it for a while as she had never played a computer game or anything like that before. It just never popped as a great idea in her mind. And after playing it for a while she concluded that it was boring and making it wouldn’t be anymore fun.

So now Leena was away to borrow (or steal to be more apt but she liked to say that she was no thief) some metal scraps from the pile of unguarded metal dumpster not so far from the garage she lived in. Which was one of the privilege of living in the poor side of town. What they said was right. ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.’

And she left her electronic creations back in the garage. In other words, she left Tessa to her own leisure again as none of the other electronics was talking English or talking at all. 

If Leena could bring herself to believe that her creation could think thoughts, then it was safe to say that Tessa sometimes thought it was unfair that there was no other electronics as unique as her to make her a unique acquaintance.

Tessa opened Words Shuffle and began solving the puzzles the game provided, playing the player and letting the game itself be her opponent. And she thought the game wasn’t half bad. 

Half an hour later, Leena wasn’t back yet and Tessa had begun going through Leena’s project files and rearranging it alphabetically. 

PING!

However weird this sounded, Tessa felt a slight tap in her consciousness. And she knew instantly that it was an email. She checked out the email.

To Ms Alleleena Faun,

It has come to our attention that your invention is one of the most accomplished produced in the Stark’s Annual Competition this year. Your invention had been selected to be one of the three finalists presented for Mr Tony Stark to choose from.

Mr Stark had now chosen you the winner and would want you, as the inventor, to meet him in person to talk about your invention and your prize. Please call one of the numbers below to make an arrangement that would suite all parties.

Stark’s Tower’s front desks:  
Jennifer Tolge: xxxxxxxxxx01  
Henry Guard: xxxxxxxxxx23

Sincerely,  
Kemal Phan  
Stark’s Annual Competition Judge

If computers could gasp and shriek, then that was what Tessa did. 

A loud noise came from the garage door which was sliding open from the outside. Light escaped slowly into the poorly lit room and Leena emerged, pulling in a cart filled with rusty metal planks, tubes, and cables. 

“Why on earth did you turn on the freaking TV, Tess. You know the guy we borrowed electricity from stop paying his bills last month,” Leena said, dragging the cart to the corner near her, trying very hard not to trip on the large cables on the floor. 

“The guy died last month,” Tessa replied, not missing a beat. “Oh,” Leena said uncaringly, “oh yeah.”

“Well, we gotta be searching for another person in this neighbourhood who pays bills or I would need to shut you down for some time,” Leena said. “Not just yet,” Tessa said, “you got an email.” 

Leena rolled her eyes. “Probably from the game I uninstalled. Do you know they send spam emails on how you are doing in the game?”

“No, Leena, it’s from the competition.”

Leena stopped moving about and stayed perfectly still. Could it be? She was almost too scared to speak. This was her one chance. “Is it good news or bad news?” she asked.

“See for yourself,” Tessa said, opening the email broadly on the main screen.

Leena turned around, her eyes wondering and reading the mail carefully as to not skip a single word on accident. Her eyes brightened.

She screamed.

She laughed. 

It was a miracle. A dream come true. A surge of happiness that felt so foreign evaded her chest. She twirled and sat down, still smiling. 

“If only you can feel this Tess. I’m so happy,” Leena said, breathing heavily. 

I think I can, Tessa thought.

“Are we going to call them, Leena?”

“Yes,” Leena answered quickly and crawled to a standing position and took the old mobile phone (which was also stolen some time years ago) on the table beside the TV and dialled the first number on the email. The line did not hover for long before someone picked it up.

“Stark Industries, how may I help?” a woman said from the other line.

 

-.-

“Sir, you have a meeting with the winner of the competition in a few hours.”

The man laying relaxingly on the cushions of the sofa in the room replied to the computerised voice. “Good. Been waiting for what? One whole week? After I’d actually chosen to meet. What was taking so long?”

“The email was sent just yesterday, sir,” the voice said again.

“Ha! Yesterday? Days after I’ve chosen the winner,” the man said mockingly. 

“You also have an incoming email from Kemal Phan about the delay,” the computer said. “Trash it, Jarvis. It’s useless,” he said, flicking his fingers behind him.

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell me, Jarvis. Isn’t it time to check on my new suit?” The man said standing up. “I believe it is sir.”

-.-

Hours later, Alleleena was fitted into another set of cleaner clothes that she made sure won’t get her kicked out from the building. Leena pushed her glasses up her small nose and fixed her brown hair which was stuck in a decent high ponytail. “I look okay,” she assured herself. “You look mighty fine,” Tessa said, hinting sarcasm. 

Leena made a face. “At least I put some effort on my appearance today,” she retorted. “Just pray they don’t kick me out because they either recognise me from the last time they kicked me out or because they don’t believe I actually made The Spare Part,” Leena said, worry in her voice. 

“You didn’t make The Spare Part alone and I have a part in it so maybe they will kick you out because of that,” Tessa said. Leena rolled her eyes. “I thought we were over with this, Tessa,” Leena said. Leena turned around on her heels to see around the room. “I’m not forgetting anything, right?” Leena asked (to herself but it seemed to be more directed to her computer friend”. 

“The five dollar bill is on the table out front. You’ll need that,” Tessa answered.

“Right. Thanks,” Leena said, taking the dollar bill, stuffing it in her front jeans pocket and opened the garage door which slid up noisily. 

“Good luck,” Tessa said, the TV volume very little Leena barely heard it over the noise of the garage door. But her keen sense of hearing let her hear the subtle words of her friend. “I’ll need that,” he said, as she slide down the garage door from the outside.

Leena took out the large lock from her back pocket and locked the garage door. She turned away from the garage and walked out to bus stop a few step away. Without needing to wait for so long, a beaten up bus rolled to the station, the door opening to her. She stepped into the bus and handed the bus driver a few coins for the fare and sat far back. The bus was empty but for her and the driver.

Once she sat down, Leena let out an anxious sigh. Her fierce exterior which she put up whenever she was outside the safety of her garage faltered and she grew fragile looking. She was scared and all shade of nervous. She knew she’d come so far now and there was no backing up. 

No backing up from the meeting she would have with the Tony Stark. No backing up from facing her potential biological father. No backing up from the proposal of asking him to take a DNA test with her. The latest, above everything else seemed the most horrifying to her as there are quite a few things that would make it lead up to some very catastrophic scenes.

Including if she actually wasn’t his daughter and everything she did was a waste which would end up in her own ridicule. But what if it didn’t even go that far and Tony Stark would think it too freakish that she asked him to a DNA test and disagreed.

Leena bit her tongue. Tony Stark could disagree to her idea and then she would never knew. She would never have a father. The very thought of that made her cringe. She couldn’t shake off the how hopeful she now was and how disappointed she might be in a few hours if things didn’t go as planned.

“I’ll need luck very much,” she said to herself very quietly. The bus halted to another stop and Leena quickly turned her head to see that she was just one more stop away from her destination. 

Her fingers twitched and her toes tapped the floor of her shoes which was two sizes too big. 

The bus halted again and she walked out of the bus both eagerly and hesitantly. She was a good few hundred metres from Stark Tower but she could see it perfectly from where she was standing. She felt a creeping dread up her nape and her hair rising from anticipation, adrenaline, and the fast thumps of her heart. She walked, her each step driven with determination but also taking a breath away from her. 

She’d never been religious, brought up by a drug and sex addicted mother and afterwards herself. But she now sent her silent prayers to the God she so often heard in the movies she watched. 

She reached Stark Tower without trouble and went into the air conditioned building with even less. The clock on the wall opposite her marking she was not late as she saw the bustling adults around the room. 

She walked to the front desk which was as tall as her bust and got the attention of the man in front of her who’s ear was on the telephone. “Yes?” he asked, putting down the phone. “Yeah. Um… Can I see Jennifer Tolge, please? I talked to her a few hours ago on the phone,” she said, staring into his eyes as she spoke, her tone (hopefully) meaning business. 

The man looked down the the ringing phone and put up his index finger. He called behind him for a woman and answered the phone again. 

The woman who was a very pretty middle-aged woman with dirty blond hair and was smartly dressed regarded Leena and asked earnestly, “How can I help you?” 

“Um… I talked to you on the phone a few hours ago and I have an appointment with Mr Stark in a few minutes,” Leena said, her voice cracking in the end to her dismay. The woman blinked. Twice. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I quite catch your name,” she said politely. 

Alleleena didn’t blame her for not believing. Who would? “My name is Alleleena Faun and I talked to Ms Jennifer Tolge over on the phone a few hours ago,” Leena said, her voice didn’t crack this time.

The woman’s eyebrows shot up in disbelieve but she recognised Leena’s voice all so suddenly she couldn’t help but nod. “I— yeah. Mr Stark is waiting in his office. I am going to call him and tell him you are already here,” The woman said, taking the telephone handle and dialling. Leena smiled, grateful. Although her heart was drumming so hard it sort of hurt. 

“Right, if you would just follow me,” the woman said, exiting the front desk and walking the hall behind it.

Leena hummed in reply, not able to say anything more. She was nervous.

So very nervous. 

I’ll need luck. Lot’s of it. She realised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I know I suck and this chapter isn't what you expect it to be but this is sort of the first part of the original chapter since I feel like it's more apt to put their reaction into meeting each other in another chapter. 
> 
> But let me know what you think!
> 
> PS some stuff are originally italised but couldn't stay that way after transfered.


	5. Just a Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, she's now chosen! But how will her meeting go?

5 Just a Meeting 

 

Breath in. 

Breath out.

Alleleena forced herself to do this as her heart beat so fast it was actually painful to breathe. It wasn’t exactly helping her pull herself together either as her hands and pits (embarrassingly) were sweating and her legs seemed to have a mind of its own and began twitching.

She was a nervous wreck. 

“You can go on now,” Jennifer Tolge said after awkwardly standing in front of the meeting room door for a minute or so. Jennifer motioned her fingers to the door and back to Leena. When the woman saw Leena’s contorted face, she quickly added, “Hey, you all right?” 

Alleena cursed herself mentally. “Y-yeah,” she managed to stutter. Leena’s face was tinted with red. She’d just embarrassed herself.

“Big fan?” Jennifer asked, smiling slightly. “It’s okay, just come in as soon as you can. He doesn’t really like to wait for too long,” Jennifer said.

Leena cheeks turned into a darker shade of red. “I— Yeah I’m going in now,” she said with what she thought was a confident voice. Although to her pure mortification, it came out a squeak. 

Jennifer pushed open the door a little and patted Leena’s back to encourage her to step in the room and hesitantly, she did. Once she was fully inside, the door closed behind her.

Thump.

Thump.

Leena saw a figure of a man siting on a couch a few steps away. He wasn’t facing her. 

Not yet.

Leena curled her fingers anxiously and stepped forward, swinging her legs slowly, with her focusing on her breath. 

“Yeah I know! If you would just give me some time to— okay whatever. Fine do it your way,” the man said. Leena jumped at his loud voice. He was on the phone. No wonder he wasn’t bothered to check on the door. 

But now that— I should stop calling him the man, Leena thought.

But now that Tony Stark had put his phone down, she saw that he was turning his head to look at the door.

Now or never, she though as she bit her tongue.  
“Good afternoon, Mr Stark,” she said. 

——

He looked at the girl. Seriously looked at her in confusion.

Was this supposed to be an intern? But she didn’t even look old enough to be working here. Anyway, he strictly said to his staff that he was going to meet an inventor at this time.

The girl probably saw his expression and quickly said, “My name is Alleleena Faun, I’m the inventor of The Spare Part and I am here to talk about my invention and the prize.” Which came out more like a question as her voice seemed breathless at the end.

Tony’s mouth was slightly ajar. “How old are you?” he asked curiously, scratching his stubble. “Fourteen,” the girl answered.

Tony wanted to say that he didn’t believe her. But his gut feeling forced him to think this as a possibility as he too had achieved great things in his early teen years. 

“You made The Spare Part?” Tony asked, his eyes focused on her. 

The girl seemed startled from his question. “I do. Yeah, I did,” she said. 

Okay, Tony thought, let’s give her a chance.

——

Leena couldn’t believe it as she saw the Tony Stark pointed to the couch in front of his to tell her to sit. 

Well, she couldn’t believe it at all when Tony Stark didn’t ask or retort anything that sounded close to condescending. She started to walk to the couch, her heart pounding less severely now.

“So,” Tony said, typing on the table. A holographic monitor sprang up from the table and appeared on the table. Leena stared at it in awe. How come she’d never thought of making any of these? “How?” he asked curiously while looking at her intently. 

Leena was aware of her jitters and just how badly her legs seem to shake so she crossed it in hope Tony would not recognise just how nervous she was. “How it works?” she asked him, trying to sound professional. She really didn’t know how to act. In the past the people that usually asked about her things were either herself, Tessa or the people in the junk stores who she sold her creations and all these seem dull in comparison to talking to someone as talented as Tony Stark.

“I have seen how it works. I am more curious about how you make it work,” he said, flicking his wrist and her machine spread out part by part like it detonated and was frozen in time as it was exploding. Leena’s eyes almost fell out of it’s sockets. How in the world had she never thought of making something like this and also, if she were to make something like this would she need to trademark it or go through some legal process or something? But as she was looking closely at the hologram, she saw how the pieces of her machines were not ‘exploded’ properly and some of the clumps were not taken apart properly.

Unconsciously, her finger itched and moved closer to the hologram and hovered on top of one of the parts that was still a clump. She heard Tony clearing his throat. Her head turned to his and she saw is impatience dripping from him. 

“You…” she said and trailed off. Tony’s eyebrows moved a little and she took it as an indication for her to continue. “You didn’t separate the parts properly,” she said then blushed. How stupid was she to say such thing to him. Would he find it insulting? God, she hoped not.

Alleleena composed herself and started again, this time answering his answer instead of trailing off before he can comment on her earlier comment. “My machine is like a series of puzzles. Small puzzles fitted together properly to make a bigger puzzle which eventually fit together to make an even bigger one so the machine really can’t be broken apart this way,” she said.  
——

The girl continued to talk animatedly while moving her hands and pointing on the hologram screen. Tony couldn’t believe the scan he did to take apart the parts were wrong but considering how flawlessly she pieced together her work perhaps the chance for JARVIS getting it wrong wasn’t small to begin with. He had never seen an engineer make machines in a way like hers. And she was just fourteen.

“What’s the other hole for?” Tony asked her, pointing at the hole next to the flue. “Oh, that one? Inside it is an emergency button,” she said slowing down. She flicked her fingers so that the machines can be seen by them from another angle. Tony laughed mentally. This girl was literally taking over his hologram screen. 

“If you cast more light on it, you can actually see that the metal stuck inside it is actually a button and you can press it in. If the burner inside malfunctions and overheat, the least hot part in this machine is the area around the flue so you can reach this button to destroy the burner inside it. I guess it’s like a self destruct button but it won’t harm anybody outside because it’s going to explode inside the machine. The skeleton of the machine will hold during the explosion too,” she said. She sounded like a child high on sugar. It was odd to compare her to the shy girl coming in Tony’s room a while ago.

“Safety reasons are of course weren’t really thought about here,” Tony said.

“Well, if I have more time, I can fit in a remote control to it or if the machine is tailored for a certain person, I can put it on voice recognition or something,” she said admittedly. 

Tony pursed his lips, trying to hold his smile and maybe after recognising the lack of questions from Tony, Leena pursed her lips too and sat down on the couch across him. “Are you aware how rich I can make you with the prize you win from this?” Tony asked, forcing his complexion to look serious even though all he wanted to do was smile and talk animatedly. He had a reputation to withstand.

Alleleena seemed to want to say something but failed to get it out because to Tony, the girl looked like a fish on land.  
“Well,” Tony said, starting the bargain he had in mind, “normally, the winner will take home $100 000 and obviously a liberty to boast.” 

The girl seemed to smile sadly. “I actually don’t really want the money,” she said. Tony furrowed his brows in confusion although what she said didn’t make sense, he went with it because it supported what he had in mind. 

“Then what about we ask you, I ask you to intern in Stark Industries? For someone your age, it would obviously be a great opportunity and a great thing to say in your application whatever for university. Oh! An intern and scholarship to university! That sounds like a good deal,” Tony said agreeing to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI OMG IT'S BEEN TOO LONG! Sorry... the last time I updated was like almost last year but don't worry, this story had never been out of my mind so there you go ;)


End file.
